SF has so flooded into popular culture and beyond that it’s becoming a staple of discussion in politics and philosophy and daily life. The New Yorker just ran a “science fiction issue” featuring works by some of our literary lights… a few of whom spent decades denying they ever wrote sci- fi. People appear to have realized, at last, that we’re in the 21st Century. Time to buy that silvery spandex outfit, I guess.

Another good thing, the sheer number of brilliant young writers coming down the pike. They can turn a phrase with the very best in any genre, in any era, and there are so many of them! Liberated by new technology to explore innovative storytelling methods, like novels with embedded media or animated storyboards… zowee!2) What is wrong with science fiction today?

Too many authors and film-makers buy into the playground notion that cynicism is somehow chic and knowing. So many 50 or 80 year-old clichés are rampant — e.g. “hey look, I invented suspicion of authority!” — while nostalgia pushes aside what used to be our genre’s golden notion. That we in this civilization might find ways to improve, to solve problems, to become better than we were. A difficult task, fraught with many pitfalls. But too many portray it now as hopeless.

How pathetic! That beneficiaries of relentless progress should repay that debt by casting doubt on the very possibility of progress? And lest you mistake this for political, I see the habit spewing from both ends of the hoary, lobotomizing so-called “left-right axis.” My late, lamented friend Ray Bradbury called this fetish the very lowest form of ingratitude.

Not that all SF has to be Pollyanna sunny or tech-praising-pulp! Ray plumbed the darkest depths of the human soul, in tales that could freeze your heart. So? He considered fantasy chills and terrifying sci fi what-ifs to be part of the process, exploring our dark corners and failure modes, always aiming to achieve effective warnings. Self-preventing prophecies.

Some of us are rebelling. Neal Stephenson, Kim Stanley Robinson, Greg Bear and others have been laying down a challenge to our peers. If you think we have problems, expose them! But spare a little effort to suggesting solutions. Or stoking others with belief that we can.

3) Does the ascendance — and some would say replacement — of literary science fiction by multi-sensory media worry you? Editor H.L. Gold, as I recall, once famously said, “the Golden Age of science fiction is 14.” Is this still true in an age of 3D movies, realistic CGI even on TV shows, and immersive video games with science fiction storylines and settings?

Good question. Certainly when it comes to mass media, I can grumble about the immaturity, the clichés, the shallow idea space and the relentless cowardice of sequel-remake-reboot-itis. Whenever I see a new film I deliberately tune down several “dials” in my mind — critical faculties associated with logic, plotting, science… — just so I can retain some ability to enjoy a flick in the spirit it’s offered. (Anyway, that helps to keep both wife and daughter from strangling me, during the show!) And yes, sometimes I get the dials tuned right, though I do resent having to do it.

But we’re at the dawn of a new era. In today’s Hollywood, writers are the lowest form of life. But that will change when a small team – writer-led — can create a rough, animated storyboard of a film, fully 90 minutes long with spoken dialogue and music, that can gain a web following long before any studio sees it. This new, intermediate art form will change everything and shift the center of power over to story.

4) What will literary science fiction — paper or digital — do best compared to other media forms of science fiction?

Look, it may surprise you that I, the Hard SF Guy, believe there’s magic. But let’s define it as the use of incantations to create vivid subjective realities in other peoples’ heads. That’s what most magic has always been. The shaman might not really be able to make it rain. But if his shtick was good, he would get fed!

By that light, we authors, especially in science fiction, are the greatest and most consistent magicians. We concoct long incantations — chains of spaces and black squiggles (a million of them in Existence) — and skilled recipients of the spell (well educated readers) proceed to scan those squiggles with their eyes, decrypting them swiftly into clever dialogue, deep emotions and insight, or star-spanning explosions. This partnership of spell-weaver and incantation-user in stunning, and remains far more effective for the full-rich texture of invented worlds than any competing medium.

5) You’ve occasionally dipped your pen into non-fiction, including 1998’s The Transparent Society (winner of the American Library Association’s Freedom of Speech Award) which seems oddly prescient in time of privacy leaks and, some would say, sloppy privacy boundaries both on the part of companies (Facebook) and individuals. Back then, you effectively said that openness, or letting everyone see the cards each other are holding that could be played on the other — be they corporate, government or individual — was the best policy when it came to organization’s collecting and hoarding of private information. In the more than a dozen years that have passed, do you still maintain that? Or has your position, well, evolved in light of recent web social media events?

Across at least 6000 years, nearly every civilization stuttered with barely perceptible progress and dismal statecraft. The Enlightenment’s chief tool in changing all that has been a suite of “arenas” in which we can compete, make fresh alliances, buy, sell, argue or negotiate without blood on the floor. These arenas are democracy, science, markets and justice courts. And here’s the thing. All four work best when most of the participants know most of what’s going on, most of the time. They wither and sicken and die, when denied light.

Dig it, in The Transparent Society I am actually no radical! I accept that some secrecy is necessary and avow that human beings have an intrinsic need for some privacy. But here’s the irony. We’ll be far more likely to be able to defend some privacy if we all can see. (Thus catching the peeping toms and would-be Big Brothers.) The term is “surveillance, look it up!

6) Many in technology used to say they were heavily influenced by science fiction — both the literature and, famously, the first television series to treat literate science fiction seriously, Star Trek. Lately, though, tech startups seem to cite their primary influence as other technologists, such as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Does this show a lack of imagination? Or a lack of good science fiction? Or something else?

Well, once some kids started making billions while turning s.f.-nal ideas real, who do you think will be the role models? I just hope those billionaires remember to re-prime the well.

7) Plug time. Since we’re talking around Hollywood, if you had to give a high-concept pitch for Existence in a phrase, what would it be?

It’s 2050. People have been smart but there’s a minefield of threats and dangers… which a message in a bottle washes on our shore, with an offer and a warning: JOIN US.

Of course, what I’d really do is refer producers to the vivid, three-minute preview/trailer for the book, with gorgeous hand-painted images by the great web artist Patrick Farley. (Yes, books now have trailers; I told you times are a-changing!) tinyurl.com/exist-trailer

8) What is, or should, the role of science fiction be in inspiring students in STEM or other science-related disciplines, beyond entertainment?

Not all SF or fantasy has to inspire new scientists and engineers. But it’s good to know that kids are still reading the challenging stuff. The tales filled with adventure and personal drama… but also lots and lots and ideas.

9) What one thing excites you in science today that even most geeks may not be aware of?

What? And give away my best new story notions before I can write ’em? I was jazzed to learn of Planetary Resources, the new company with deep pockets, aiming to mine asteroids and make us all so rich we can turn the Earth into a park. It turns out that Europa and Enceledus may not be the only ice-covered moons with buried seas!

And did you know that mammals have an inherent ability to re-grow body parts and limbs? We appear to have abandoned it many millions of years ago, but docs are learning how to insert the missing gears and crank that old machinery….. wow!

Do you doubt I could go on and on?

10) What one writer is writing in science fiction today, aside from you, that you consider a must-read for solid yet accessible scientific extrapolation?

Vernor Vinge, though I find Stephen Baxter and Rob Sawyer to be right up there. Geoff Landis gets the science right. Three English majors, Nancy Kress, Kim Stanley Robinson and Greg Bear, have an uncanny knack, as do some younger writers like…

But you asked for just one. I’ll stop at seven, but attach some recommended reading list links (http://www.scoop.it/t/speculations-on-science-fiction). Now let’s cross that minefield.

TAEM

David Brin is a scientist, tech speaker/ consultant, and author. His new novel from Tor Books is Existence. A film by Kevin Costner was based on The Postman. His 16 novels, including NY Times Bestsellers and Hugo Award winner, have been translated into more than twenty language. Earth, foreshadowed global warming, cyberwarfare and the world wide web. David appears frequently on shows such as Nova and speaking about future trends. His non-fiction book — The Transparent Society: Will Technology Make Us Choose Between Freedom and Privacy? — won the Freedom of Speech Award of the American Library Association.

This entry was posted
on Saturday, September 1st, 2012 at 12:00 am and is filed under College Science Digest, Science.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Search for:

The Online Hollywood
Insider Magazine

Why You Should
Advertise with TAEM

Besides the many college students who have access to our Publication we have had 98,408 Visits and 161,679 Page Views.

We create exposure for you by creating exposure for the Magazine:

Students & Faculty Population: 8,816

Students Population: 1,400

Students and Staff: 35,522

Students and Staff: 26,587

Student population: 26,144

University of Glasgow, Scotland
29,000 Students and Staff

For September and October- We will be advertising in Virginia Tech with a Student and Staff population of 34,485

In October we will be advertising in the University of Southern California with a Student and Staff population of 55,000.

Ohio State University has nearly 65,000 Students (among the three biggest in the country). Their paper and website, where our ad appears in September and October, averages more than 100K unique visitors, and nearly 300K pageviews/month during their school year.

Ads have been placed in The University of California Los Angeles ( UCLA) with a Student population of 37,000.

Over 58,000 students (second largest in the nation)
over 175,000 page views in 30 days

Now Published on Amazon
for the KindleFrom Author
Joseph J. O'Donnell

The Eerie Digest Magazine is now offering a new program to college students from Coast to Coast, to have the world read their work, and display the young talent this country has to offer.

We are looking forward to see some of the fine work that these Universities, and their students, can produce. For more information on this program have your college, or University, contact us through this site. Contact information is available on the top left hand corner of the Homepage.

All Short Stories and Novels by Joseph J. O'Donnell are copyrighted and cannot be used without permission.

The Eerie Digest does not stand behind any advertisements placed in this magazine nor do we back any guarantees, waranties, products, or services placed in this magazine by advertisers.

The Eerie Digest does not stand behind any advertising or promotions made by sponsors for their products or services. These advertisements and promotions are by, and for, the sponsor's sole benefit alone. This also goes for any advertisements or promotions represented within interviews, or other aspects in the magazine that are offered for the readers interest. Anyone responding to ads or promotions should verify their content's genuine offer before doing so.

All interview content posted has been submitted, and approved of, by those interviewed in them.

'

All characters, places, and events in these stories are fictitious, and any resembelence
to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.